Judging from how early in the morning it was, this was likely the Viliffa farmers waking and getting an early breakfast just before sunrise. That way, they can get out and start their work days as soon as the undead had retreated into their holes at the sight of the sun. Seemed this was either a large village, or a very farm-heavy one with the number of smoke-trails though.
As Edward approached the slope of the hill, he visualized it as remaining flat, and walked right into it. He really had began to find that very convenient. Yes, it could be exhausting to walk through the ground, but he also found it exhausting to walk up a slope, so this way, he just avoided the extra time it would take to increase his distance by doing that. Honestly, once he got back to his body, he'd probably miss that. It was actually very peaceful to walk through things. Because of the fact he could only see so far out of whatever he was walking through, it meant that walking through something as large as this would often leave him in complete darkness for periods of time. It was almost meditative sometimes, as if he could just walk through the concept of nothing for a time, then return to reality by just walking a little bit farther.
Recently, Edward has been learning to distinguish different materials by how the darkness manifested. For example with dirt: some dirt had a large amount of air mixed in, which sometimes left almost a certain starry look to the darkness around him. Stone was more solid, but occasionally had these amazing cave systems he would explore from time to time, when they weren't crawling with the undead. There was one region he had seen that had these amazing, paper-thin cracks as tall and as long as buildings or grand tapestries! It was beautiful, and reminded him of waterfalls. Well, if waterfalls were perfectly still and-
...oh no...
Edward walked out of the hill to find a dreadful sight. What he had thought were pillars of cooking smoke, were in fact pillars of smoke coming from the ruins of still smoldering wooden buildings. There were people gathering around heaps of ash and rooting through them, trying to locate any belongings left untouched by the flames. There were grand swaths of blackened ground, where even the dirt beneath had been reduced to ash. It was horrific.
Despite knowing that the sun would be raising within the hour, he approached quickly and did what he could to offer his help.
The boy had been walking for a bit, and nothing too interesting had happened during the trip, other than watching him use more of those old magics to roast some more undead, even if the novelty of it had began to fade, Nilbog could still appreciate a good form of magic. He'd been pondering the gold for a while now, and still hadn't found many details on it. The more that he investigated, the more confident this kid wasn't just some kind of weird history buff role-playing somebody from the days of the old magics.
As he saw the village up ahead and below him, Nilbog stopped in the air. Ruh-roh. That's a dragon's marks right there! He hadn't seen any warnings about this in the gold! Those incompetent lesser goblins weren't doing updates properly. From his estimation of how the survivors were acting, and with his bird's-eye-view, Nilbog could tell that the dragon had been gone for at least a few hours. Good. Those overgrown lizards can stay away from him! Far away. Honestly, this might even be too close. But he had a priority.
Landing on the ground, Nilbog probed for the minds of nearby goblins and felt a good half-dozen, as well as one completely UN-eaten corpse! Sloppy! So sloppy. What if a 'caeti found that thing?! Nilbog stormed up to the nearest one and threw some words at them.
"What do you Mother-Shud'rs think you're doing?! Why wasn't there a warning about the Shud'in Dragon in the area?? Where is your gold?! Do you have no self respect?!" Nilbog threw at the goblin, full force.
"Huh? What? Self-respect? I'm a goblin." Background gobbo #1 responded.
"Good answer kid. I like that. What's your name?" Returned Nilbog walking up and patting them on the shoulder.
"Nilbog." Responded the FAKE Nilbog aka Background gobbo #1.
"No, that's MY name. You take that back! I won't you yoinkin' my stuff kid." Nilbog, the real one, responded. At the same time, he grabbed the other goblin by the front of their shirt and lifted them into the air with surprising ease, not even seeming to struggle in the slightest despite being as muscular as a twig.
"No, I swear sir! That really is my name I swear on my gold!" Responded the maybe real but definitely inferior Nilbog.
"Oh, really? That's my bad then. Always nice to meet another Nilbog." Conceded the much cooler and more handsome Nilbog who, in his great wisdom and generosity, put the inferior Nilbog down and dusted off their shoulder.
"So, where is your gold? You might not have been able to update it before I got here, but we should be able to warn the other goblins in the area about it. Can't have somebody else accidentally get themselves turned into draconically-seasoned gobbo toast." Continued the better Nilbog, who was looking around, trying to see if any of the other goblins had any gold on them.
"The Dragon took it. Picked up our whole hut and just flew away." Explained the SEVERELY UNINTELLIGENT Nilbog.
"You mean to tell me that you don't carry any gold ON YOU??" Asked the better Nilbog, though, apparently that's not saying much considering how low this other Nilbog was setting the bar.
"You dont deserve to have the name Nilbog. No, as judgement for your stupidity, I demand that you go eat that guy over there and use their name instead." He continued, pointing at the goblin corpse under what was probably the rubble of their old hut.
"But his name was also Nilbog, sir..." Responded Background gobbo #1 who didn't have a name because they didn't deserve one.
"No way! 2 Nilbogs in the same town? Wacky. Don't see that name used much these days. That's kind of cool........ IS WHAT I WOULD BE SAYING if that guy wasn't WORSE than YOU. He's DEAD! You're both disgraces. Go eat him anyway, and until you can find somebody else to eat who ISN'T named Nilbog, you will be called Gobbo. Do you understand me?!" This was a disgrace. 2 Nilbogs? One who was too stupid to not carry gold on him, and another who DIED. The superior Nilbog was disgusted. The new generation these days
"Yes sir-" Said background gobbo #1 as he dashed of into the distance to begin eating the disgrace.
After scolding the gobbo, Nilbog was feeling a bit better about the situation. Even if it was dangerous, he felt he had instructed them well enough to not have this happen again in the future. He, of course, took the liberty of updating the gold on their behalf. Sitting down and concentrating, he was able to dump the information of what all happened right into the ball of metal in his pocket, then pushing it beyond and into... something else past that.
Upon touching it, Nilbog felt that wonderful and oh-so-familiar buzz of... everything. Knowledge, stories, words, sounds, impressions, emotions, etc etc etc into a nearly endless infinitum. It was just as amazing every time, but he couldn't let himself dwell on it now. He had a ghost to watch. What was the kid up to now? Hopefully something fun!
It was certainly something, the kid was using his ghost body to get odd points of leverage over pieces of rubble in order to move them, or sticking his head into piles and checking if anybody was trapped. Real heroic or whatever. After seeing that, Nilbog did return to the gold a bit, the orb in his pocket pressing against a hole in his pants that let it touch his green goblin skin. While keeping a passive eye on the kid, he gently skimmed the information for this region, trying to get an idea of what was going on here before the attack by the over-grown lizard.
The work was hard, but Edward did it anyway. The people needed him. They needed as much help as they could get. Apparently there had been a dragon attack. It swooped down, grabbed an abandoned shack on the end of town, then flew around torching long swaths into the ground and across the land. These poor people. It seemed that dragons were still a menace, even in far off lands such as these.
While getting people out from the rubble, Edward stumbled across a rather gruesome sight. There was a tiny green man devouring another tiny green man. They were each only about 2 feet tall, and had long ears and noses and chins that came to a point. Despite the fact that Edward had been fully invisible and intangible at that point in time, the creature looked up at him the exact moment that Edward had spotted it. It seemed surprised, hairs standing on end and goose pimples spreading across its arms, it then cried out, looking around a bit.
He judged that by the way its eyes never actually met Edwards, but instead scanned the area immediately around him, it could be assumed that maybe it still couldn't see him, but instead could feel his presence. That made sense in Edward's estimation, after all he himself had sometimes felt the sensation of being watched. Maybe this creature was just more accustomed to it. Regardless, he quickly scolded himself for getting distracted and returned to the rescue efforts. Though he would need to tell this town's Cleric about this thing.
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Edward ducked away, seeking other people, and after a time, he found a small child trapped under a small heap of broken and burned wooden planks. The child themselves weren't burned, but upon seeing the way their face was covered in soot, Edward assumed that they had inhaled some smoke. That had been more than concerning to him, so he tried something he hadn't before. He attempted to clear the soot with a weaving.
Target: [Creature]; Designation of Target: [Touch]
Edward touched the child on the shoulder and suddenly the crystallization around Edward extended and focused around the child. Good. They were still considered a "creature", that means that the child was still alive. If the weaving had failed, it would have meant that they were considered an "object"; a corpse. Thankfully though, that wasn't the case.
Target Addition: [Sub-Target]; Sub-Target: [Object]; Designation of Sub-Target: [Symbol]; Symbol: [Smoke, Soot]
Thankfully, that was a symbol Edward knew from his training with his father. One of his chores that was used to train him was to clear smoke and soot out of the chimney. He just needed to do the action. Wait, if he just used the one he used when clearing the chimney; [Move], then it might mess this kids insides up. It wasn't built for that, it was too simple of a command, and he didn't know all the symbols for the different parts of the body, besides, that would require more sub-targeting, and precise descriptions. He didn't know how much time this kid had left. It was time to try something.
Effect: [Teleport]; Frame of Reference: [Target]; Designation of Target: [Creature]; Direction: [Up]; Distance: [100]; Reference of Distance: [-------]; ACTIVATE
Thinking about the [Move] effect had made him want to try something. Maybe he could treat the [Teleport] effect the same way, direction, distance. For the frame of reference, he used creature, knowing from very painful personal experience that if he didn't specify a creature, it would default to him. For the Reference of Distance, he drew a line roughly half a foot long, maybe a 5-8 inches or so, he didn't count exactly, he was rushing a bit.
Upon finishing the activation symbol, the Crystal lattice around the two of them flashed once, and then faded. The spell had activated correctly. Edward needed to check if it had worked. He stepped up out of the rubble and looked into the air just as a few motes of soot dust began to drift down from the sky, some whiffs of smoke dispelling into the air and floating away. He had done it. Seems that teleportation was indeed possible this way! Amazing! Maybe next time he was in a bit of a pickle, he could try it! Though, he'd have to be careful about the destination in case he teleported inside of another object or creature- though, actually, with him being able to go intangible, that might not be the biggest cause of worry for him-
OH RIGHT. THE CHILD.
Edward ducked back under the rubble to see that the child still wasn't breathing. Thinking quickly, he slapped the child on the back, and thankfully, that seemed to jolt them back into breathing. They gasped, coughed for a few moments, though nothing came out, and looked around at their enclosure of wood. They immediately began crying, which was signal enough for Edward, who had immediately begun to dig them out.
Nilbog was enjoying the sensation of the gold when suddenly, Background gobbo #1 rapidly approached, scrambling out from under the rubble. His face was covered in blood, as it should be, but it was also covered in fear or something. Oh no, was the dragon coming back?! Nilbog was certain he would have felt something-
"Sir! Sir! Something saw me!!" Background gobbo #1 cried. It was pitiful. They couldn't maintain their stealth while eating or something? Disappointing.
"You were seen?! By what?" Responded Nilbog, voice annoyed because of the fact that he had to disconnect from the gold for a moment.
"I... I don't actually know, I couldn't see anything, but it was RIGHT THERE. Maybe 2 feet away or so." Responded BG#1. Were they paranoid or something?
"Kid, you paranoid or something? You're sure you weren't just experiencing memories or feelings from the corpse?" Asked Nilbog, giving the pitiful gobbo a chance to not sound as crazy by explaining it in a reasonable way.
"I mean, I don't think so. Nilbog- er, I mean, The other Nilbog- er, uh..." BG#1 stammered, trying not to enrage the superior Nilbog.
"Get on with it. The dead one."
"Right, the dead one was one of the best at sneakin' that I've ever met, so I cant see a reason why he would have a memory of being seen. Honestly, he was the best of us here." BG#1 said, voice falling ever so slightly.
"Yeah? Well he's dead, so I'd argue that all of you are better than him by a lot." Nilbog said, placing a hand on BG#1's shoulder. This gobbo should be able to take comfort in that fact. Missing people is a blessing! You can't miss people if you're dead after all! Unless you're undead, but that's different. And it depends on the undead? Doesn't really matter.
There was no response from the other gobbo. He just stared at Nilbog. Right, harder to see it that way if you're the one doing the missin'.
"Alright, I'll look into it. Can't guarantee I'll find something though." Nilbog said, turning and facing away to begin walking in the direction.
"Thank you sir." Responded BG#1. As an answer to the thank you, Nilbog just gave a little wave over his shoulder.
Nilbog approached the location, but couldn't feel anything more than a light mental presence, which was likely the remaining presence of the corpse. After all, there was still a lot of blood around, and it had seemed like that other gobbo had been rushing to get out of here. Maybe they were just crazy? Regardless, Nilbog wasn't finding anything in here. He couldn't even see any signs that something else had been in here recently. No tracks or weird smells, or anything.
Though, it was a different story the moment that he stepped out of the rubble. He felt it. That stomach dropping feeling of being seen. He could feel an image of him in another creature's mind nearby. He spun, and saw 2 creatures were headed in his direction. The village cleric, and the ghost.
Edward saw the creature again, though, it looked to be wearing different clothes now. Was it a different creature? He couldn't tell at first, but as he looked at it more, it seemed to have small differences, which, to be entirely fair to both sides of the argument, could be because he was misremembering how it had looked initially.
"There it is! The creature of which I have spoken of!" Edward said pointing at the odd little green man standing, looking surprised the moment that Edward had spotted it, but after a moment, it leaned back against the pile of rubble next to it and smiled, seeming rather smug.
"What? I don't see anything. Are you sure? Wait, is it over by the tree line?" Asked the cleric, looking everywhere but where the little man was. That was odd. Could they not see it? It's not like it was particularly blending in with the wood around it or anything. They approached closer, and Edward stood a few feet in front of the little green man, and pointed directly at it.
"There. It is right there. Canst thou not see it?" Asked Edward, slightly concerned.
"No? There's nothing there from what I can see. But I have heard tales of the little green men. I thought they were fictional, until Gozja reported seeing one." Answered the Cleric. This 'Gozja' was the very powerful cleric from the previous town who had the divine senses.
"They're not going to be able to see or hear me bud." Said the little green man out of the blue as they leaned again the wall, arms crossed, one finger out and wiggling from side to side.
"I'm actually very surprised that you can see me, which considering that I've been following you for days means that you really are just... SUPER oblivious, man." This little creature gestured very expressively with its hands while it talked. It seemed very energetic. Interesting for sure.
"What doest thou mean when thou say that the cleric 'won't be able to see thee?' Thou art standing right there." Edward asking, looking from the little man over to the cleric, who looked rather confused, looking from the rubble to Edward, and back.
"What? Is it there? That's..." The cleric says, trailing off, eyes going out of focus. After a moment, they shook their head and looked back at Edward.
"Sorry, what were we talking about?" They asked, seeming a bit confused.
"See? Whaddid I say? I physically can't exist in their brain unless I want to." Replied the little man, then, theatrically, it snapped it's fingers. After a moment, the Cleric jumped, then entered a combat stance for a moment.
"AH! Where did you come from?! What-" The cleric stammered, but was cut off by the little man snapping it's fingers again, and they began looking around frantically.
"Where did it go?! It was just there! It just..." And just like that, there was another moment of staring off into space, and the cleric seemed confused. After a moment, they heard a cry of pain from the distant triage tent.
"Oh goodness, I should probably go check on my apprentice. You can show me that thing you mentioned earlier as soon as I make sure that things are going well." And with that, the cleric jogged off towards the tent, seeming oblivious to everything that just happened.
In response to this whole interaction, the small man just gave a gentle bow and a little "ta-da!" gesture in the direction of the cleric.
"As I said, not allowed to exist in their head. It's really handy at keeping predators off your back. My kind are actually everywhere, but most people just don't see us. That's how we like it."
Edward couldn't help but watch this whole interaction with an odd sense of stupefaction. This was like nothing he had ever seen before. Had it said that it was following him? How did it even do that? Why could Edward see it? A surplus of questions raged though his brain, and his mouth couldn't form the words unless he was willing to let everything spill out all at once, which he wasn't.
"Speechless eh? Can't say I'm surprised. You are in the presence of Nilbog after all! The most Goblin-y Goblin of them all! There's no need to grovel or beg for an autograph, I swear to you that I am incredibly humble, so please, no praise, I swear I couldn't bear it!" The small man, Nilbog, recited dramatically, ending with a flourish and a partial swoon backwards against the rubble. After a moment, they peeked an eye open and looked up at Edward with a cocky smirk.
"What? Still nothing? Man, tough crowd. What? Did I destroy your world-view or something? C'mon kid! Lighten up! You're acting like the village just burnt down around you-" Nilbog cut off, looking at the burning remains of the buildings all across the town.
"Well, metaphorically I mean... Anyway, I've gotta skedaddle, so... peace out kid!" They continued before suddenly being flung into the air.
'Well, that was certainly a... unique experience.' Edward thought to himself, staring off into the distance, still processing everything that just happened. He had never seen a creature like that. Was it some sort of Fae creature? That might make sense. But regardless, he had other things to worry about right now. Like a burnt down village.
After getting just over the trees, Nilbog landed and checked to make sure the coast was clear. After determining that it was, indeed, the case, he let out a long sigh and slumped against a tree.
"What a weird interaction. He could SEE me. Like, completely! I tried multiple times to purge myself and he just didn't flinch! I've got to update the gold about this." Nilbog rambled to himself. Truly it was fascinating, but also more than a little worrying. Was Nilbog losing his game? It couldn't be... No... more than likely this had to do with why the crotchety old corpse was looking for this kid.
"Whelp! Nothing to do about it now! He knows I exist, and I think he's probably going to stay here a bit and help clean up this town. He's a goody-goody like that, so I wouldn't surprised if he did exactly that. Guess I might as well go home and see how Folly is doing." Nilbog said aloud to nobody in particular before zipping back off into the air, changing direction and eagerly awaiting to arrive home where he'd finally get a chance to relax.